Chapter 22

Nancheng Foreign Language University is one of the more prestigious institutions in the country. In fact, Nancheng City boasts many nationally renowned universities, creating a strong academic atmosphere. Several years ago, when seven or eight universities renovated their campuses, their new buildings were all planned in the same area, forming the well-known University Town within the city.  

Since driving through the university gates, Cai Chengji had rolled down the car window, enjoying the breeze against his face. Watching the lively, youthful faces passing by, he couldn’t help but sigh, “I’m telling you, this is the kind of school you want—plenty of female students. Even the air smells sweet.”  

“Ugh… don’t even mention it. Thinking back to our days at the Police Academy…” Xiang Yang followed up with a pained expression.  

“Kids these days have it so much better. Nancheng Police Academy only moved to this new campus two or three years ago. A distant relative of mine is studying there now, and apparently, the male students jump at every chance to sneak into the Foreign Language University or the Teachers’ College.” Cai Chengji’s tone was thick with envy. “If I’d had that kind of convenience back then, I wouldn’t still be single now!”  

“Cut the crap. Look at yourself—what woman wouldn’t have nightmares sharing a bed with you?” Xiang Yang shot back mercilessly.  

“Hey, don’t be so quick to judge. Haven’t I shown you my college photos? I was downright dashing back then! The way I look now…” Cai Chengji widened his eyes indignantly. “The way I look now is all because of the toll this job has taken on me! I’ve selflessly devoted my prime years to the motherland and its people…”  

The two bickered relentlessly in the car. Jiang Li shot them a sidelong glance as he steered the wheel, slowly navigating through the crowded area. They seemed to have arrived just as afternoon classes were starting, so the streets were bustling with students.  

Eventually, the black SUV stopped in front of a girls’ dormitory. After showing their credentials, Jiang Li led the group up to the third floor. As soon as they entered the hallway, they spotted someone standing outside Room 318—a local police officer who had arrived first after receiving the report.  

Jiang Li greeted the officer at the door before glancing inside. It was a standard four-person dorm room, and since it was in the new campus, the conditions were quite good. Inside, a middle-aged couple was present—the woman sat on a chair, sobbing, while the man stood by the balcony, silently smoking. A circle of cigarette butts had piled up at his feet, suggesting he had been standing there for a while.  

Another officer was inside, attempting to console the crying woman, though with little success, leaving them somewhat at a loss.  

“What’s the situation?” Jiang Li asked.  

The officer at the door replied, “The report came in earlier today. The missing college student is a junior in the English department here, named Dang Yueyue. According to her roommates, the last time they saw her was at noon two days ago. They had afternoon classes, but Dang Yueyue claimed she had a headache and didn’t go with them, choosing to rest in the dorm instead. When they returned after class that evening, they didn’t see her and assumed she had gone out to eat, so they didn’t think much of it.”

“No one found it strange that she didn’t come back at night?” Cai Chengji frowned. “Does Dang Yueyue have a boyfriend?”

“According to her roommates, she has suitors, but no boyfriend at the moment. However, she has a fellow townsman in the university’s software engineering department. They’ve been close since high school. He rented a place off-campus, and she occasionally stays there. This isn’t uncommon, so her roommates weren’t alarmed when they couldn’t reach her. It wasn’t until the next day when Dang Yueyue still hadn’t appeared that they began to panic. Then, they saw her post on WeChat Moments, which naturally eased their worries.”

“That’s why they didn’t report it last night,” Jiang Li remarked, glancing around the dorm room again.

“Right. After last night passed and they still didn’t see Dang Yueyue this morning, the three of them discussed it and decided they had to act. They reported it to their advisor, who immediately called the police and contacted Dang Yueyue’s parents.” The police officer gestured toward the middle-aged couple in the room. “They just arrived from Changping City.”

Changping City was a neighboring city to Nancheng, not far away—just an hour or so by intercity train.

Facing Dang Yueyue’s mother, who sat sobbing uncontrollably, the woman who had been standing nearby with a troubled expression stepped forward and bent down to comfort her. “Auntie, we’re all worried about what happened to Yueyue, but the most important thing right now is to cooperate with the police, isn’t it? Finding Yueyue as soon as possible is the priority.”

“Cooperate with what? Her father and I knew nothing about her disappearance! You have no idea how we felt when we got that call!” Sun Xia, Dang Yueyue’s mother, was visibly distraught. “Since my daughter came to study here, isn’t it your responsibility to look after her? What kind of teacher are you?! You waited two whole days to notify us parents—two days! She didn’t attend classes or return to the dorm, and you, as her advisor, didn’t notice anything was wrong?!”

“And you!” After berating the advisor, Sun Xia turned to the three girls standing in the corner, shouting, “Yueyue has always been a sensible girl. She wouldn’t stay out overnight without reason. Why didn’t you report this to the teacher immediately? You’re all so young, yet so indifferent? My poor daughter… wuu…” As she spoke, tears streamed down her face again.

The three girls, also in tears, looked aggrieved and somewhat resentful, but under the circumstances, they refrained from arguing back and further upsetting Sun Xia.

“Let’s prepare to interview the family first,” Jiang Li said. Soon, officers from the local police station escorted the three girls and the advisor out. He then entered the dorm room with Cai Chengji and Xiang Yang, nodding at the middle-aged couple. “Hello, we’re from the Municipal Bureau Special Task Force. We need to ask you some details about your daughter and hope for your cooperation.”

Dang Wenjian, still holding a cigarette on the balcony, walked inside. He took a deep drag before casually tossing the half-smoked, still-lit cigarette onto the floor. “Special Task Force?” He took two steps forward, his expression grim. “I just heard that besides our Yueyue, others have gone missing recently. Is that true?”

“…At present, we can’t confirm any connection between your daughter Yueyue’s disappearance and these incidents…” Xiang Yang chose his words carefully. “The top priority now is for both of you to cooperate fully with our police department so we can find your daughter as soon as possible.”

His heart was heavy as he spoke. Two days had already passed—no one could say what Dang Yueyue had endured during that time or what condition she might be in now.

“Have you found any of those other missing people?” Dang Wenjian pressed.

Silence was the only response.

Sun Xia immediately broke down again, sobbing uncontrollably. Dang Wenjian crouched on the spot, visibly distressed, repeatedly wiping at the corners of his eyes. Seeing that the family members wouldn’t be able to cooperate with the investigation anytime soon, Jiang Li gestured for the officers waiting outside to come in and continue comforting them while he turned and walked out.

Cai Chengji watched his retreating figure thoughtfully before nudging Xiang Yang’s shoulder. The two moved out to the balcony together.

“Yang, don’t you think Jiang Dui’s been acting a little off ever since this missing persons case got transferred to our unit?” Cai Chengji asked. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something felt strange.

Xiang Yang raised an eyebrow. “Now that you mention it, yeah…” Although Jiang Li usually wore an impassive expression, after working together for so long, they could still detect subtle shifts in his mood.

Inside the apartment, Sun Xia’s heartbroken sobs continued intermittently.

Against this backdrop of muffled crying, the two leaned against the railing, heads close together as they earnestly analyzed their team leader’s recent behavioral changes.

“Honestly though, I think he’s been carrying some heavy baggage ever since he returned from that last assignment,” Xiang Yang said meaningfully. “You think something might’ve happened during that task force he joined?”

“What could’ve happened? He came back in one piece without a scratch,” Cai Chengji scoffed.

Xiang Yang smacked the back of his head. “You clueless single-celled organism! No wonder you’re still single.” He leaned in closer, exasperated. “What I mean is—that secretive joint military-police operation Jiang Dui participated in was full of elite officers from across the country. What if… he met some amazing woman there and came back lovesick?”

“Hey, now!” Cai Chengji’s eyes lit up as if he’d discovered new land. “That’s actually plausible!”

They say people’s behavior undergoes dramatic changes when they fall in love. This would perfectly explain Jiang Li’s recent absentmindedness and those subtle, unconscious shifts in demeanor.

Xiang Yang shook his head in amazement at the power of emotions while turning to look down at the dormitory building. “Speaking of which, there are plenty of pretty girls at the Foreign Languages University too. For example…” His eyes suddenly lit up, and he nudged Cai Chengji beside him with his finger. “Cai Bao, look! Didn’t I tell you beauties are everywhere on campus? Check out that figure and poise!”

Cai Chengji followed his pointing finger and saw a female student in a cream-colored chiffon dress, her long, straight black hair cascading down. Though her face wasn’t clearly visible, her overall appearance suggested remarkable beauty. The girl hurried inside their dormitory building within a few steps.

“Alright, let’s get back to work.” Xiang Yang noticed Cai Chengji’s lingering gaze and gave a disdainful look before clapping his hands and returning to their dorm room.

Seeing that Dang Yueyue’s parents seemed to have calmed down somewhat, he considered whether to call Jiang Li back. Just then, a figure in white suddenly appeared at the dormitory door, slightly out of breath from rushing. “Brother Cai! Brother Xiang!”

When Cai Chengji and Xiang Yang got a clear look—holy crap—wasn’t this the very beauty they had just been admiring from the balcony? Their emotions became complicated as they recognized the face and heard the familiar voice. After a long pause, Cai Chengji finally spoke, “Wait, why are you dressed like this? And why are you at the Foreign Languages University? Shouldn’t you be at the Police Academy…” He trailed off mid-sentence, eyes widening as a realization struck him.

“I started a six-month training program at the city bureau a few days ago. Today, I took leave to attend the graduation ceremony at the Police Academy. But just now, I got a call from the bureau telling me not to return to training—instead, I should report directly to Team Leader Jiang.” Su Yan tugged awkwardly at her dress before tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Cai Chengji: “…”

Xiang Yang: “…”

“Where’s Team Leader Jiang?” Su Yan craned her neck, scanning the room but not finding him.

“Him? Well…” Cai Chengji, brimming with gossip, led her out into the hallway. “Listen, Yan, something huge—your Brother Xiang and I discovered a little secret about Team Leader Jiang. Wanna hear it?”

Su Yan gave him a deadpan look for several seconds before politely declining. “So, what’s the case about here?”

“Huh? A female university student went missing. Normally, it wouldn’t be our business, but the problem is—this is the third case this month.” Cai Chengji lowered his voice and held up three fingers for emphasis. Then he circled back to his earlier topic. “Anyway, we found out Team Leader Jiang… is in a relationship! How’s that for shocking? I knew something was off about him lately…”

“What’s shocking?” A voice suddenly came from behind them.

Cai Chengji froze, slowly turning around to see Jiang Li standing there, one hand in his pocket, carrying a faint trace of tobacco scent.

“Nah…” He instantly shrank into himself, letting out an awkward chuckle before his eyes darted around and he pulled Su Yan forward from behind him: “I meant Sister Yan’s outfit is pretty wild, really gets the blood pumping, heh… heheh… So? Didn’t expect the newbie Deputy Chief Xu mentioned to be Sister Yan, did you, Jiang Dui? Surprise!” After rattling off this string of words, he hunched his shoulders and scurried back into the dormitory.

“Welcome back to the team,” Jiang Li said simply, giving her a quick once-over before tilting his chin to signal her to follow him inside.

Su Yan didn’t move immediately, standing rooted in place as she pondered: Female students, missing persons cases, and more than one?

So that’s it… Her eyes flickered with understanding, instantly grasping why Jiang Li’s emotions had been so visibly disturbed that even Cai Chengji had noticed.